Romans 9:15-20

9:15 For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹  9:16 So then, ²  it does not depend on human desire or exertion, ³  but on God who shows mercy. 9:17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh: ⁴  “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” ⁵  9:18 So then, ⁶  God ⁷  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ⁸ 

9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?” 9:20 But who indeed are you – a mere human being ⁹  – to talk back to God? ¹⁰  Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ¹¹ 

¹ sn A quotation from Exod 33:19.

² sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

³ tn Grk “So then, [it does] not [depend] on the one who desires nor on the one who runs.”

³ sn Paul uses a typical rabbinic formula here in which the OT scriptures are figuratively portrayed as speaking to Pharaoh. What he means is that the scripture he cites refers (or can be applied) to Pharaoh.

⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 9:16.

⁴ sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Grk “So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”

⁵ tn Grk “O man.”

⁶ tn Grk “On the contrary, O man, who are you to talk back to God?”

⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 29:16; 45:9.